Well, open your Bibles again
to Isaiah chapter 1. The title of the message is purging
sin and taking away ten. I looked at that verse where
he talks about taking away all of thy ten. I looked and looked
and looked at that. And I finally saw what it meant.
I took the time to look the word up. Oh, I know what that means.
That opened up this whole passage for me. purging sin and taking
away sin. Now, we're going to begin verse
21 with a very sad beginning, but you'll see how this beginning
is just like the start of man's history on earth. This gives
us a very good picture of man's fallen Adam. Look at verse 21. How has the faithful city become
an harlot? It was full of judgment. Righteousness
lodged in it, but now murderers. Now, mankind is pictured in this
city. This city that we read of, once it was a beautiful city.
At one time, it was a righteous city. Righteousness dwelled in
it. And that's a picture of Adam in the garden. Before Adam fell,
he was faithful. This was a righteous, faithful
city. Before Adam fell, he was faithful. He was faithful to
do everything God commanded him to do. And before Adam fell,
he was righteous. God created Adam upright. He
didn't create him in sin. He created him upright. And he
had a righteous standing before God. And Adam would remain righteous,
keep that righteous standing as long as he obeyed one law.
That's all God gave him, just one law. And he'd be righteous
as long as he obeyed that law. As long as Adam didn't eat of
the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he'd
be righteous. Now, I don't know how long Adam
was in the garden before he fell. But I don't think it took too
long. And the moment he ate that fruit, Adam died. Adam lost his righteous standing
before God. Now, before he ate of that fruit,
he was righteous. He was faithful. God told him,
dress the garden and keep it. Adam was faithful to do it. But
the moment he ate that fruit, he lost his righteousness. He
lost his faithfulness. He fell. We talk about the fall
of man, the fall of Adam. When Adam fell, he fell from
life to death. He didn't just fall so he's bruised
up and mangled and he's hurt so he just needs a little help
now. No. If a man would fall and break
his leg or something, he'd need a little bit of help till that
bone healed. Adam fell so badly he doesn't
need just a little bit of help. Adam doesn't need just a little
time to heal. Grant just needs a little time to heal. He'll
be back, won't he? Not Adam. When he fell, he died. He lost all spiritual life and
everyone who was in Adam died too. And that's everyone. This
word translated faithful here, that is translated faithful,
it means believe. Normally it's translated believe.
Man at one time believed God. Adam believed God once. But now,
by nature, no man believes God. We've all called God a liar.
We refuse to believe the record that He's given us concerning
salvation in His Son. We just say, I'm not going to
believe. And we say, I'm not going to believe God. We're calling
God a liar. And it's because we're falling in at Him. Now,
this is one ugly fall now. Man went from being faithful
to being unfaithful. Now, you imagine if your spouse
was unfaithful. That's what we did. We became
unfaithful, so unfaithful that we're called a harlot. That's
pretty strong language, isn't it? We would be seriously offended
if somebody called my wife a harlot. You and me have problems. Wouldn't
we? I mean, we'd be so offended.
And how ashamed would you be if your wife was a harlot? Oh,
so ashamed. Why aren't we more ashamed of
ourselves? That's what God calls you and me, by nature. How come
we're not more ashamed of ourselves? I don't know. We're just because
we're in sin. We've sold ourselves in sin.
We are that harlot. We've sold ourselves into sin.
At one time, man kept the law. This word judgment, it means
someone who's kept the law. Man was just at one time. There's
just one law. And we didn't have the whole
table of law, you know, like what God gave Moses, just add
one law. And Adam couldn't even keep that one for long. When
Adam fell, he lost his righteousness and he became unrighteous. So
unrighteous that he went from keeping the law to taking life. He went from keeping the law
to being a murderer. Adam's first son was a murderer. You know why? He was the son
of Adam. That's why he became a murderer when he fell. Sin
makes men the enemy of God. Now, we're still religious. Don't get me wrong. But people
in religion may be the worst enemies of God. False religion
is the enemy of God. They don't just have another
look. They don't have another take. They're not approaching
God a different way. They're God's enemy. That's what
Scripture says. If you're telling lies about
somebody, aren't you their enemy? This stands to reason. Sunday
mornings, we've been last couple of Sunday mornings in John chapter
10. Our Lord told those Pharisees, you're false prophets. He called
them thieves and robbers. They come to steal, to kill and
to destroy. Our Lord said you're murderers.
Now, they have an outward form of religion. I mean, man, they
look like the best of the best, but the inside. full of dead
man's bones. They keep the outside of the
cup clean. They keep the outside of the cup, the platter clean,
but the inside is full of extortion, wickedness and corruption. I
don't want to eat, I don't want to drink out of a cup that's
dirty on the inside, clean on the outside. God says that's
what we are. That's what these religious men
are. They're murderers. Peter called the message of a
false prophet a damnable heresy. That's what their message is.
If you believe that message, the message of a false prophet,
you will be damned. That's a damnable heresy. And
in that way, they murder the souls of men and women. All because
Adam fell. That's what Adam made us when
he fell, became murderers. And the preeminent illustration
of that is Calvary. When God allowed man to get our
hands on God's Son one time, what did we do to him? We tortured
him and killed him. crucified the Lord of Glory because
when Adam fell, we became murderers. And then men killed the prophets
and the apostles too. It's never ending. We're murderers.
And all that happened because men went from being full of the
law to complete hatred of God and enemies of God when Adam
fell. We were righteous. Don't have any righteousness
anymore. We're faithful. Not faithful anymore. We're adulterers. Verse 22. He says, thy silver
has become dross, and thy wine mixed with water. Now, the silver
started out pure, but then Adam lost it. It all became dross
when Adam fell. Now, dross looks just like silver. Just to the untrained eye, you
look at it and think it's silver, but it's not. It's worthless. And that's man. He can look good. He can look righteous to other
men, but he's worthless. on the inside shows what he really
is, he's worthless. He's altogether lighter than
vanity, less than nothing, he's worthless. Scripture says our
righteousnesses, the very best things we do, are filthy rags. Now, man has a show of religion
that draws looks like silver, but it's our good deeds that
send us to hell. The very best thing we've ever
done is send us to hell for multiple eternities. Man has a show of
religion, but it's empty, it's worthless. And the wine, it started
out pure, but then Adam fell, and now it's watered down. It's
flat, it's bitter, it's got no flavor. Now, you can water down
wine, it'll keep some of its color until you water it down
too much, but for a while, you can water it down, it'll keep
some of its color. But it won't be true wine. It won't be pure
wine. It won't make the heart glad
anymore. It won't help your stomach anymore. Because when you water
it down, what happens? Take the power out of it. John
Gill says the wine here represents God's Word. And when men water
down God's Word, now that's not helpful. They don't make it more
palatable. They take the power out of it.
And it becomes a damnable heresy. You water down the wine. Verse
23, thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves. Everyone
loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards. They judge not the fatherless,
neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. Look back
in Genesis 49. Now these princes, these are
the best that man can produce. They're the leaders, they're
the best, top of the heap. I want you to look at what Jacob
says here. He's blessing his sons. Time
of his departure is at hand, blessing his sons. In Genesis
49, verse 3, look what he says, Reuben, thou art my firstborn. You're my might, the beginning
of my strength. Reuben, you're the excellency
of dignity. You're the excellency of power.
That's the best Jacob can produce. Look what he goes on, he doesn't
end there. Reuben, you're as unstable as water. and you shall
not excel, because thou wentest up to thy father's bed, then
defiledst thou it, and he went up to my couch." The very best
that Jacob could produce is an adulterer and unstable as water. He's a harlot, too, just like
his father Adam. And these princes in Isaiah chapter
1, oh, they're the religious leaders. They're false prophets,
though, but they're religious leaders. God says they're rebellious
against God. Well, you know, they look awful
good. God says they're rebellious. They're rebellious against God.
They're rebellious against God's son. They're rebellious against
the gospel because they hate Christ. That's why you don't
rebel against somebody that you love. You rebel against somebody
that you hate. And this is the best of men.
This is the best man has to offer. Now, see if this doesn't sound
like today. Isaiah said they love gifts.
Now, they love to be given money. They love to be given gifts that
make them rich because they're motivated by greed. But more
than that, they love gifts. They want the gifts of the Spirit.
Isn't that what everybody's interested in today? The gifts of the Spirit.
The gifts of the Spirit. And they don't have any interest
in Christ to save them from their sin. But they sure are interested
in gifts of the Spirit. And they follow after rewards.
They're trying to earn rewards in heaven. Their motivation is
to have a bigger mansion than somebody else, to have more crowns
and glory than somebody else. They're motivated by this reward. They're seeking after them. And
they're so interested in these rewards and they have yet to
seek Christ, to seek him, to seek to be found in him. And
their message makes people just like them. I mean, if that's
all you preach, you're going to make people just like you. They
make people, they're all out there chasing gifts. The gifts
of the Spirit. The gifts of the flesh. You know,
seeking rewards. And that just comes natural to
the natural man. It's just so easy. Because this
is our nature. We've fallen in Adam. We're greedy. Man is so greedy. He wants more
of everything. Except Christ. Isn't that amazing? So greedy. Wants more of everything
other than Christ. They won't hear. They just, oh,
so sad. But this is us by nature. And
that message is a legal message. Now, you know, they can cover
it in whatever they want to cover it in and cloak it wherever they
want to cloak it in. But I'm telling you, it's a legal message.
It's what people can earn. If they have more gifts of the
Spirit, they're better than somebody else. That's what they're trying
to earn. They're trying to get more of that. And that message Makes
people mean-spirited. Just makes them mean. They don't
plead for the fatherless. They don't bear the burden of
the widow. There's one message that does that. There's one message
that will plead for the orphan and bear the burden of the widow.
Just one. It's the message of God's sovereign grace in Christ
Jesus. In Christ, there are no orphans. God's our Father. In Christ,
there are no widow. Christ is our Husband. The gospel
message is for the spiritual orphan and the spiritual widow.
But not just that, John. They won't plead for the fatherless.
They don't bear the burden of the widow. And that sin, an iniquity
of man, you know it must be judged. God's holy, God must judge it.
Look at verse 24. Therefore saith the Lord, the
Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel, Ah, I will ease me
of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies. Now, how
great is the iniquity of man? How great is it? This struck
me. The iniquity of man is so great
that the mighty one of Israel, the one who can bear anything. Scripture says he bears the world
on his shoulder. He can bear anything. And the
mighty one of Israel says, I'm going to lighten my load. I'm
going to get rid of this iniquity. I'm going to get rid of these
adversaries. Now this is the Mighty One of Israel, the Lord
of hosts. He's going to lighten his load.
He's going to avenge himself. He's going to punish his enemies.
Is any going to stand? Is any going to stand and resist
the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel? No. He's going
to judge all sin without exception. The Mighty One of Israel is also
the Holy One of Israel. He's going to judge All sin,
without exception. Well, then that begs the question.
How can anybody be saved? He's going to judge all sin,
without exception. How's anybody going to be saved?
We know somebody's going to be. Verse 9, we looked at this last
Wednesday. Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very
small remnant. We should have been a Sodom and
we should have been like unto Gomorrah. God's going to save
somebody. He's got a remnant he's going
to save, but how are they going to be saved? They're so full
of dross. They're just as full of sin as
anybody else. They're no different. How are they going to be saved?
Verse 25, I will turn my hand upon thee and purely purge away
thy dross and take away all thy tin. Now, the iniquity of man
is so great. God says, I'm going to put it
away. I'm going to purely Purge it
away. All of it. How is He going to
do that? God says, I turn my hand on that remnant. That hand
that reached way down for me, this is the hand He's talking
about. He turns His hand of mercy on that remnant. That hand that's
able to pluck the brim from the fire, God turns that hand on
His people and plucks them from the fire. Now, God's elect, like
I said, they've got a lot of draws in them. They've got as
much sin in them as anybody else. But they're not going to be thrown
away as worthless garbage. They're not going to be thrown
away like worthless straws because God turns His hand of mercy upon
them. Now, God's elect are going to
be saved. We know that. They must be saved, though, in
a manner that's right and just. It must be. God's elect must
be saved in a manner that's consistent with God's holiness and God's
justice. God will never show mercy at
the expense of His holiness. He'll never show grace at the
expense of his justice. Every sinner must die. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. Not it might die, not it should
die, it shall die. Every sinner must die. God says, I'm going to purely
purge away your dross. I'm going to purge away your
dross according to pureness. If you have a sinner reference,
that's what it says. I'm going to purge away your
dross according to pureness. I'm going to put your sin away
according to pureness in a way that will honor my holiness and
honor my justice. Not only will God not violate
his holiness and justice, he's going to purge away the sin of
his people in a way that will honor his holiness and honor
his justice. Now, every sinner must die. Either
we must die or our substitute must die, one or the other. Just
like we read there in Egypt, every house in Egypt was judged
in Pyrrhus, wasn't it? Every house. Either the firstborn
died or the substitute died. Every sinner must die, either
in ourselves or in our substitute. Now, God's elect are saved because
Christ died for them. That's why they're saved. Christ
was made to be sin for his people. Christ took all of the dross
of his people. All that sin is dross. He took
that dross in his body on the tree. And he went into the furnace
of God's wrath against sin and he stayed there until all that
dross was burned off. He stayed there until all the
sin was gone. And his people went through that furnace in
him. In our representative. In our
substitute. Now that's a work that's done
for us, isn't it? Christ dying for the sin of his people, that
was a work that he did for us, wasn't it? But now salvation
requires also a work done in us. At Calvary, Christ did a
work for his people, but now that blood must be applied, just
like that father at the Passover. He could have slain that lamb,
roast his body with fire, ate it just like God told him. His
firstborn is going to die if that blood is not on the door.
The blood must be applied. And this is where the taking
away of all of our tin comes in. Life and faith must be given. Now, this tin, I looked and looked
and looked at this before I finally saw what it is. There's three
things about this tin. You know, a tin can look like
silver. I looked, I saw on the Internet
a candelabra, a tea set, something, I don't know what it was. But
when I looked at the picture, I thought, man, that's beautiful.
That's a silver service set or something. It wasn't. It was
tin. Tin can look just like silver,
but it's worthless because tin is so abundant. Silver is rare,
but tin is one of the most abundant elements that there is. Well,
that's Christ. Christ is the silver. He's rare. He's the only son of God. He's
the only holy man. to ever live. He's pure silver.
But man is tin. Man's abundant. There's so many
men and all of them are as worthless as tin. And that worthless Adamic
nature must be taken out. It has to be removed. Now, God
saved somebody. You know this. That nature's
not removed, is it? But he's not in power anymore.
And one day he will be removed. He must be removed. That tin
has to be removed. Worthless tin. Secondly, tin
is used as an alloy. This word translated tin, actually
it means alloy. Now, tin is too soft to be useful
by itself. But mix some copper in there.
Now you've got bronze. Now you've got something that's
worth something, isn't it? Bronze, that's useful. But that
alloy That mixture of works and grace, that mixture of our works
and Christ's work. Now, brother, that has got to
go. It's got to be cast out. Salvation is in Christ alone. Not me helping him out. Not me
and Jesus. Salvation is Christ alone. Thirdly, tin is used as a coating. I don't know that they even have
tin cans anymore. When I was a kid, you had tin cans. A tin
can is not a tin can at all. It's a steel can. Coated with
tin. Tin is used as a coating. And
that's a picture of the coating of man's righteousness that we've
made for ourselves. And that coating's got to go.
It has to go. That's what the Pharisees did.
They had the coating. They cleaned the outside of the
cup. But the inside's filthy. Now that's got to go. It has
to be cast out. You know very well, Scott Richardson
taught us this. Righteousness is not something
to paste it on. It's not a covering. When you talk about a covering,
well, it sounds like you're putting this covering of righteousness
over top of your seat. You're leaving the sin and filth
and decay there. You're hiding it with the coating.
That's not salvation. We're not robed in righteousness. Listen to me. We're not robed
in righteousness. Not a covering. We're made righteous. Righteousness is not a covering.
Righteousness is what we are. God makes his people righteous. So the coding's got to go, because
when God makes a sinner righteous, he makes us righteous through
and through. Now, if we make ourselves righteous, it's going
to be a ten coding. But if God makes us righteous, we're righteous
through and through. Look at Psalm 51. Now, there
can be no doubt sin is purged. By Christ, right? That's a work
done for us. Psalm 51, verse 3. For I acknowledge my
transgression, and my sin is ever before me. This is that
dross. I'm full of dross. It's all I see in me. Against
thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear
when thou judgest. Behold, thou shapen in iniquity,
and in sin doth my mother conceive me." That's my original sin in
Adam. Behold, thou desires truth in
the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to know wisdom. Now look, purge me with hyssop. What's he talking about there?
He's talking about the blood of the Passover lamb, the blood
of the substitute. They put that blood on the doorpost
with hyssop. Purge me with hyssop, apply the
blood to me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and
I shall be whiter than snow." Look over at Hebrews chapter
1. Now that blood, that application,
the shedding of it, it's all done by Christ alone. Hebrews 1 verse 1. God with sundry times and in
diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory, and the express
image, the exact image of his person, and upholding all things
by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our
sins, he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high."
How is sin purged? By Christ alone. That can't be
more plain, can it? The purging of sin is a work
done by Christ. And the 10, the taking away of
the alloy, the taking away of that coating and putting the
righteousness in, that's of Christ too. Look over in Hebrews chapter
9. Verse 13. For if the blood of bulls, and
of goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean,
sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God?" Now, the only way your conscience can
be purged, the only way your conscience can be clear, is if
sin is gone. If sin's not gone, you've still
got something to feel guilty about. Your conscience isn't clear.
But if Christ died for you, your conscience is clear because sin
is gone. And when God takes out that ten
and puts in his righteousness, then we're made that faithful
city again. Look back in our text, Isaiah 1, verse 26. He
makes us just like Christ. And I'll restore thy judges as
at the first and thy counselors as at the beginning. Afterward,
thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful
city. Now, he's not going to say, call
us someone like a righteous city, is he? He said, you are the righteous
city. You're not like a faithful city. You are the faithful city. You're
a city of righteousness. You're not just a lookalike.
You're not a clone or, you know, I don't know what the right word
is. You're not a lookalike. You're righteous, made righteous in
Christ. Now, he said, I'll restore your
judges and your counselors. Well, the judge and the counselor
is Christ, isn't it? He's the judge. He's our counselor. But
this all, he's the one that puts everything in order and keeps
everything together. But this also refers to pastors and teachers
as opposed to the false prophets that you talked about earlier.
God's preachers bring us the gospel. They preach the gospel
of the sacrifice of Christ alone. And that's when the blood is
applied. That's when faith is given, when the gospel is preached,
when the gospel is heard with the ear of faith. God's preachers
preach Christ the counselor. I wouldn't take the title of
counselor to myself for any amount of money. Christ is the counselor.
We preach Him. Christ is the judge. God's elect
are saved by Christ. alone, by the message of Christ
alone. And the righteous and the faithful,
they never claim any good of their own. They never claim that
they did anything good or right. They all say Christ did it all. Philippians chapter 3. If you
know of anybody that could boast about having some goodness in
the face of the law, it would be the Apostle Paul. And look
what he says in Philippians 3 verse 4. Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, if any other man thinketh he hath whereof he might
trust in the flesh, I more. I got him beat. Circumcised the
eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and
Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee. Can't get
any better. Concerning zeal, persecuting
the church. touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to
me, what things I thought were gained at one time, those I counted
lost for Christ. Gay, doubtless, and I count all
things but lost. All those things that are in
my past, I count them all but lost for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the
loss of all things. I lost them all. And I do count
them even worse than dross, I count it done that I may win Christ
and be found in him, not having my own righteousness which is
of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith." That's the righteousness. That's the faith of all of God's
elect. Now, I told you every sinner
must die. God's not going to save His people
by ignoring their sin setting aside their holiness. And that's
what he says in verse 27. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment
and her converts with righteousness. Now, Zion is always a picture
of God's church and God's people, His church. They're saved through
strict righteousness and strict justice. God taking judgment
and vengeance against their sin. Solomon said in Proverbs 16,
6, by mercy and is iniquity purged. Iniquity
can't be purged by just mercy. It has to be purged with mercy
and truth. It can only be purged through
true punishment for sin. And God's elect are saved because
their sin is paid for. The blood of Christ paid the
debt. Their sin is purged through the sacrifice of Christ. He stayed
in the furnace until all the dross was burned off. And they've
been converted. Isaiah calls them converts. They've
been changed from being like Adam to being made just like
Christ. And what does he say? They're
converted with righteousness. They're not converted at the
expense of righteousness. They're converted with righteousness. Their sin is being completely
justly paid for. And we observe the Lord's table.
That's what we're saying. Christ is my sacrifice. Christ
is my substitute. He died for me. In His death,
He purged my sin away. He made me whole. He's all my
salvation. When we take that bread and that
wine, that's what we're confessing. Christ is all my salvation. He purged all my sin away without
any help from me at all. Now, what about unbelievers?
Here we looked at how God's going to treat believers, His people,
Zion. What about unbelievers? Their
sin is purged with the exact same wrath, or punished, not
purged, punished with the exact same wrath and the exact same
justice that God punishes a believer's sin with. The difference is this. The believer's sin is punished
in Christ our substitute. He can bear that punishment.
He can stand up to it. We can't. No mere man can. Verse
28, and the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners
shall be together. And they that forsake the Lord
shall be consumed." You see, what Christ endured in just a
matter of three hours, that three hours of darkness, what He endured,
an unbeliever will suffer for eternally. They'll be eternally
consumed by it. And there won't be any help.
As Christ hung on Calvary's tree, the Father turns back on Him,
didn't He? He had no help. These unbelievers, they won't
have any help either. First of all, they won't have
any help from their idols. Verse 29, For they shall be ashamed
of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for
the gardens which ye have chosen. For ye shall be as an oak whose
leaf faded, and as a garden that hath no water." Now the oaks
and the gardens that Isaiah is talking about here are the groves
and the high places where the people would go to worship idols.
When sin is judged, people are going to see those idols as worship
idols. They're going to see those groves as worthless, as a lifeless
oak. Just like what an oak looks like
when all its trees fall off. It looks dead. They're going
to see my religion with that idol is dead. And you know why
it's dead? There's no Christ in it. They
rejected him. That dried, dead tree doesn't
have any fruit. Because it doesn't have Christ.
It doesn't have union with Christ. And our idols? are just like
us. We're dry and barren and don't have any fruit because
we're not joined to Christ. And when sin is judged, you'll
see that false religion is just a lifeless place. It's like a
garden doesn't have any water. It's just all dried up and dead. We have a drought. Everybody's
garden dies. There's nothing there because
there's no water. False religion is a lifeless,
dry, dead place because Christ, the water of life, is not there. And what a mercy. To see that
in this life. Isn't that a mercy? God reached
down His hand for me. What mercy. What mercy that He
showed us what we are in this life. How horribly tragic to
not see it till the next. But some won't. There won't be
any help in their idols. And there won't be any help in
the strength of man. Look at verse 31. And the strong should
be his towel or toe. And the maker of it is a spark.
And they shall both burn together and none shall quench them. And
no man is strong enough to stand up to God, endure God's wrath. You might be something else here.
But all that strength is going to fade away. You know, if the
Lord leaves you here long enough, it's all going to fade away.
I guarantee it'll fade away when you stand before God. You'll
be consumed as quick as tinder in a fire. This tau or toe, however
you say that. You know what that is? It's just
a little piece of flax and they shake the flax and just a little
bit of it would fall off. That's what that is. Goes in
the fire, consumed like that. That's how quickly we'd be consumed
by the fire of God's wrath against our sin. And in that day, everybody's
going to see this. The only work that's going to
endure is the work of Christ for His people. That's the only
thing that will endure. The only hope or help a sinner
has is this. Christ died for me. He's my substitute. My sin was purged in him. My
only hope is what he's made me. He took the ten out and what
he'll make me someday. Now, if Christ died for your
sin, he's given you faith in him, then this table is for you. This table is to remember. It's
to remember. You don't take the table in order
to be saved. You take it remembering what already happened, remembering
his sacrifice for you. This is a time to remember his
body. Broken. How he suffered. How he suffered. When that dross
was removed. Not his dross. My dross. That's body broken for you. You
remember. You take that bread. You remember.
His body broken. Removing all the dross. And you
remember his shed blood. That's the only payment you have
for your sins. The only payment God will accept. The only payment
we have. It's his blood. You remember your sin is purged
by judgment and righteousness as we take this table. Alright,
Cecil, serve the bread if you would.